<p>I've been searching, since I really love the "feel" of all the LACs I've been too. I'm pretty shy, and I don't think that a big state school is right for me. Problem is, none of them seem to offer any kind of engineering... which is what I'd really like to major in (with a possible double major in International Relations).</p>
<p>Goucher, which I liked, had a 3 year - 2 year plan (3 years there and then 2 at John Hopkins earning BS in Science and then a BS in Engineering).. but that pretty much rules out double majoring in anything else.</p>
<p>I have pretty decent stats, but I'm looking for... average schools. Because for me to go to an LAC, I'm going to need merit aid. And although my stat's are good I don't think I'll qualify for it at one of the "top" LACs and we don't qualify for finanicial need because my parents have so much in savings. Even though they can't pay what the gov't seems to think they can to send me to college. Oh well I guess.</p>
<p>I'm looking for an LAC some-what nearby to Virginia (NC, PA, OH, SC, TN, MD)... although I guess I'm willing to look a little farther (but nothing near the west coast). If you can help me, I'd really appreciate it.</p>
<p>There are the four big name engineering LACs:</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana)
Harvey Mudd College (Claremont, California)
Cooper Union (New York, New York)
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Massaschusetts)</p>
<p>The only problem with these is that they don't offer international relations. Of them, Rose-Hulman is the easiest to get into, but Cooper Union and Olin have free tuition.</p>
<p>You can try Swarthmore, but I highly, stress that, highly doubt you'll be doing engineering and and international relations (that being a concentration under poly sci)</p>
<p>smith, if you're willing to be at a single-sex college. it's possible to double major (you won't get many electives though) in engineering and government (focusing on IR if you wanted), or you could minor in public policy, political economy, or international relations. And you can take classes at Amherst, UMass, Hampshire, and Mt. Holyoke, so even though it's a LAC there are a TON of classes to choose from. </p>
<p>there are plans for an awesome new engineering building too...and some merit-based scholarships (I don't know what your stats are...my guess is that if you're above a 2100 on the new sat and have good extracurriculars, recommendations, good grades in challenging classes, you're a good candidate for merit aid, which goes from about $2500 a year to full tuition for the best engineering candidates).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana)
Harvey Mudd College (Claremont, California)
Cooper Union (New York, New York)
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Massaschusetts)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Those are all excellent 4-year undergrad engineering colleges, but none of them are liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>A liberal arts curriculum implies a relatively balanced distribution of math/science, humanities, and social science courses.</p>
<p>That depends on how you look at an LAC. From what the original poster expressed, she seemed to want the small, personal feel of a LAC. All of those schools provide that.</p>
<p>Also, Harvey Mudd is defined as an LAC by the Carnegie Foundation classification (you will see it ranked along side other LACs in US News). Can you really claim that there is something fundamentally different about Harvey Mudd and Rose-Hulman (for example) that makes one an LAC and one a specialized college?</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is an unbelievable tech school. But, it is misleading to call it an LAC. Imagine a prospective student going to HMC expecting a liberal arts college experience and finding out that it is 99% science, tech, engineering, or math majors?</p>
<p>Mudd has seven departments:</p>
<p>Bio
Chem
Computer Science
Engineering
Math
Physics
Humanities & Social Sciences</p>
<p>Um, you know that there is a H&SS element to the HMC core, and that you can take plenty of H&SS classes at the nearby LACs such as Pomona and Claremont? That's not to say that HMC doesn't have an intense curriculum, because it does, but it's not like you are devoid of taking classes outside of science/engineering.</p>
<p>I believe you are forgetting the definition of Liberal Arts:</p>
<p>Liberal Arts: Academic disciplines, such as languages, literature, history, philosophy, mathematics, and science, that provide information of general cultural concern.</p>
<p>Technically speaking, liberal arts includes math and science. Therefore Harvey Mudd is a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>In fact, the only difference between a LAC like Harvey Mudd and a specialized school like Rose-Hulman would be the percentage of students who major in non-liberal arts, mainly engineering. Rose-Hulman graduates 63% engineering while Harvey Mudd graduates 40% engineering. Since Harvey Mudd is less than 50% engineering, it is a LAC.</p>
<p>The problem is most people think LACs are all humanities and social sciences, but the reality is there are very good LACs that are more specialized, but are still within the definition of a LAC.</p>
<p>If you want to double major in engineering and a humanities, then you should apply to some smaller large schools that are strong in both. You won't get lost with the big state school feel. That was my strategy when applying to colleges, just in case I wanted to switch out from Engineering. </p>
<p>Here are some schools that I recommend for both Engineering and Intl Relations:
Stanford, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Northwestern</p>
<p>Basically just go down the list of top research Engineering schools and see which ones are also strong in the humanities as well as engineering.</p>
<p>
[quote]
There are the four big name engineering LACs:</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana)
Harvey Mudd College (Claremont, California)
Cooper Union (New York, New York)
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, Massaschusetts)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you are going to apply to a LAC for engineering, go to one of those 4. They are all very well-respected. LACs like Swarth and Amherst provide some kind of general "Engineering" major but it's not too great.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Liberal Arts: Academic disciplines, such as languages, literature, history, philosophy, mathematics, and science, that provide information of general cultural concern.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes. I'm aware of what a liberal arts college is. The key word is "and". That's why I would not consider HMC to be a true liberal arts college. It has all of the necessary science and math departments to be a liberal arts college, but has little emphasis on the other fields -- lumping them all into a single department with virtually no majors.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is one of probably the three top science/engineering schools in the country. Its competition is not Pomona, but rather CalTech.</p>
<p>
[quote]
LACs like Swarth and Amherst provide some kind of general "Engineering" major but it's not too great.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Amherst doesn't offer engineering.</p>
<p>Swarthmore has an ABET-accredited Engineering Department, about 120 years old now. You graduate with a B.S. Degree in general engineering as part of a broad-based undergrad education.</p>
<p>It is actually a very demanding program; however, it should not be viewed as "vocational" training in the sense that you graduate as a working engineer in a particular specialized sub-field. Engineering grads ther tend to go on to grad school or to business/tech fields (i.e. software) or to entreprenurial companies.</p>
<p>Most students looking to study engineering for four years as vocational trainging and immediately get hired as a working junior level engineer should go the more typical route of a dedicated engineering school.</p>
<p>Graduates at Smith's engineering program with a 3.5 GPA are GUARANTEED admissions in engineering graduate schools at Dartmouth, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Tufts, and UMichigan. I doubt these schools would make such an offer if they thought the undergrad education was too shabby.</p>